Hutchison (l) and Perry: Still a long way to go

It’s so early that it’s basically tea-leaf reading, but Public Policy Polling has just put out the results of a phone poll of 797 likely Republican primary voters. If the 2010 gubernatorial primary were held today, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would hammer Gov. Rick Perry 56%-31%.

What’s really bad for Perry is that, not only are the stats well out of margin-of-error, but that Hutchison leads in every ethnic, gender and age group. Hutchison also sweeps up just about every polled Democrat and a big chunk of independents, which puts even more onus on the Dems to find a crackerjack candidate with some serious name recognition (no, Kinky, not you).

Here’s the big stats:

Who would you vote for in a two-horse race?: Hutchison 56%, Perry 31%, Undecided 13%

Favorable: Hutchison 76%, Perry 60%

Unfavorable: Hutchison 15%, Perry 27%

Women: Hutchison 57%, Perry 29%

Men: Hutchison 55%, Perry 33%

This article appears in February 20 • 2009.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.